Once all the votes had been announced, based on 50% jury and 50% televoting, Sweden won the contest for the sixth time, with Måns Zelmerlöw's song "Heroes". Sweden became the first country to win the contest twice in the current format, and this was the country's second win in four years and the 21st century. Italy won the viewers voting with Russia in second place, and Sweden in third place. Sweden won the jury voting, with Latvia in second place and Russia in third place. This is the first time since the juries were reintroduced alongside the televoting in 2009 that the winner didn't place first in the televoting. For the first time, the top four of the contest all scored 200 points or better. Russia's entry "A Million Voices" became the first non-winning Eurovision song to score over 300 points. Austria and Germany became the first countries since 2003 to score no points in the final. Austria is also the first host country to score nul points. The 2015 contest also saw the best ever result for Montenegro since its independence. Also, the top two countries of this contest were the same as the top two countries in the 2012 contest, being Sweden and Russia. Over 197 million viewers worldwide watched the contest, beating the 2014 viewing figures by 2 million.

The event took place in Vienna, Austria, with the venue being the Wiener Stadthalle, after Austria won the right to host this edition of the Eurovision Song Contest for winning its previous 2014 edition with the song "Rise Like a Phoenix" performed by Conchita Wurst. The Wiener Stadthalle hosts the annual Erste Bank Open tennis tournament, along with many concerts and events throughout the year and has a capacity of approximately 16,000 attendees.[1]

On 29 May 2014, Austrian host public broadcaster ORF and the EBU released some requirements and details about the venue.[5][6] ORF requested interested parties to respond by 13 June 2014.[7]

The venue must be available for at least 6 to 7 weeks before the contest and one week after the conclusion of the contest.

The venue must not be open-air, but an air-conditioned building with a capacity of at least 10,000 and a minimum ceiling height of 15 metres (49 ft), insulated for sound and light.

The Green Room should be located in the arena or as near it as possible, with a capacity of 300.

An additional room at least 6,000 square metres (65,000 sq ft) in area, to house 2 catering stands, a viewing room, make-up rooms, wardrobe, and booths for approximately 50 commentators.

Separate offices to house the press centre, open between 11 and 24 May 2015, at least 4,000 square metres (43,000 sq ft) in area, with a capacity of at least 1,500 journalists.[5]

After the deadline on 13 June 2014, ORF announced 12 venues interested in hosting the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest:[8] ORF announced on 21 June 2014 that 3 cities (Vienna, Innsbruck, and Graz) had been short-listed in the final stage of the bidding process.[9][10][11] On 6 August 2014, ORF announced the Wiener Stadthalle in Vienna as the host venue.[12] The contest was provisionally set to take place on 12, 14 and 16 May 2015, but the dates were later pushed back a week in order to accommodate the candidate cities.[13]

The city of Vienna introduced temporary new traffic signals for pedestrians on some streets, featuring same-sex couples holding hands or hugging. They were introduced as part of events connected to the theme of tolerance and inclusion in the lead-up to the Eurovision Song Contest.[16]

Traffic lights of the same – copyrighted – design of the kind "Ampelpärchen" (couples for traffic lights) followed before Christopher Street Days in June 2015 in Salzburg and Linz. In Salzburg the initiative SoHo and social democrate mayor Schaden promoted the change of the shape of the LED-lamps. The faceplates in Linz has been financed by sponsors driven by a Facebook-based initiative, but have been removed – without consent – by the new traffic minister of Linz of the party FPÖ in early December 2015.[17][18][19][20]

The competition consisted of two semi-finals and a final, a format which has been in use since 2008. The ten countries with the highest scores in each semi-final qualified to the final where they joined the host nation Austria, the five main sponsoring nations (known as the Big Five): France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom, and Australia which was invited this year to commemorate the Contest's 60th anniversary.[21]

Each participating country had their own national jury, which consisted of five professional members of the music industry. Each member of a respective nation's jury was required to rank every song, except that of their own country. The voting results from each member of a particular nation's jury were combined to produce an overall ranking from first to last place. Likewise, the televoting results were also interpreted as a full ranking, taking into account the full televoting result rather than just the top ten. The combination of the jury's full ranking and the televote's full ranking produced an overall ranking of all competing entries. The song which scored the highest overall rank received 12 points, while the tenth-best ranked song received 1 point.[22] In the event of a televoting failure (insufficient amount of votes/technical issues) or jury failure (technical issue/breach of rules), only one of the methods was used by each country.[23][24] The 2015 contest was the final time that using the 50/50 system and the modern scoring system introduced in 1975 before the format being modified the following year.

The draw that determined the semi-final allocation was held on 26 January 2015 at the Vienna Rathaus and hosted by Andi Knoll and Kati Bellowitsch.[25] The participating countries, excluding the automatic finalists (hosts Austria, the Big Five and Australia), were split into five pots, based on voting patterns from the previous ten years. The pots were calculated by the televoting partner Digame and were as follows:[26]

The final running order of the competing performances at the semi-finals and the final were decided by the producers of the show and approved by the EBU Executive Supervisor and the Reference Group, as had been done since the 2013 Contest, in contrast to a draw system for the contest's editions up until 2012 (apart from an ongoing draw method for the host country's direct position at the final). Hosts Austria drew their running order position on 16 March 2015 at the heads of delegations meeting, drawing starting position fourteen.[27] The running order of the semi-finals were revealed on 23 March 2015. It was decided that Moldova would open the first semi-final and Lithuania the second. The running order for the grand final was announced shortly after the winners' press conference of the second semi-final, with Slovenia opening the show and Italy performing last.[28]

On 31 July, the EBU released a new and revamped version of the generic logo as a celebration of the Eurovision Song Contest's 60th anniversary.[29] On 11 September 2014, the slogan for the 2015 Contest was revealed to be "Building Bridges". The Director General of ORF, Alexander Wrabetz, commented in reference to the slogan: "With the song contest in Vienna, we want music to build bridges across borders, cultures and languages. In light of the unifying power of this great common European event, we invite all to build bridges and to join hands."[30] One way of realising the slogan will be introduced in the beginning of the contest's final, as the competing artists will enter the arena via a structure which simulates a "magic bridge" of light.[31] The graphic design of the contest was revealed by the EBU on 25 November 2014.[32] The theme depicts a wave made up of many spheres, meant to symbolise diversity and the bridging of connections and encounters people experience on a constant basis. The colours of the theme intend to highlight individualism whilst simultaneously also representing the building of musical bridges and the diversity and variety of the artists, songs and audience. The theme art will be incorporated in all contest related developments such as crew uniforms, on-air graphics and merchandise.[32]

The postcards of this year's contest also witness the slogan "Building Bridges". In the postcards, each of the clips start with every contestant receiving an invitation to Austria in their home country. More specifically, the invitation is to a region in the host country with all nine Austrian states taking part. The story continues with the contestants making their way to one of the states where they have an individual task to fulfil. The tasks on the journeys vary from culture to sports, from economics to science and tradition to modern.[33] For example, the Austrian postcard features The Makemakes participating in a fun run and in the San Marino postcard, Michele Perniola and Anita Simoncini attend an evening at the Vienna Opera Ball.

In this year's contest, all the hashtags for participating countries incorporated the ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 country codes for them which were displayed on the television screen, preceded by the names of the performing countries. For example, the first country in semifinal 1, Moldova, which would normally have been displayed as "01 Moldova"; became "01 Moldova #MDA" under the new changes. When the hashtags were used on Twitter, they became "hashflags", and appeared by the accompanying of a heart symbol with the flag of the country of the hashtag.[34]

During an initial meeting between the host broadcaster ORF and the EBU in late May 2014, the representatives of the core organising team were selected. Edgar Böhm, who is the Head of Entertainment at ORF, was announced as the executive producer.[36]

On 10 February 2015, it was announced that thirty-nine countries (forty including Australia) would participate in the 2015 Contest.[37]Cyprus and Serbia returned after one-year absences, the Czech Republic returned after a five-year absence, while Ukraine withdrew.[37] Australia made its debut as a guest participant. The deadline to apply for participation was 15 September 2014. Countries that applied had until 10 October 2014 to withdraw from participation without financial consequences.[38]

On 10 February 2015, the EBU announced that in honour of the 60th anniversary of Eurovision, it had invited Australia to participate in the finals of the contest, represented by Special Broadcasting Service (SBS). SBS had been a long-time broadcaster of the event, which has had a large following in Australia. The Australian entry was placed directly in the grand final. Although it was considered a one-off event, if Australia were to win, SBS would have co-hosted the 2016 contest in a European host city of its choice. The EBU considered the possibility of similarly inviting countries to participate in future editions of the contest. Australia's participation brought the number of the finalists up to 27, the highest number of entries in a final in the contest's history.[21][39]

a. ^ While Austria and Germany both finished with no points, Austria is listed as finishing "ahead" of Germany due to the tiebreaker rule that favours the song performed earliest in the running order.[53]

For a country to be eligible for potential participation in the Eurovision Song Contest, it needs to be an active member of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).[61] The EBU issued an invitation of participation for the 2015 Contest to all 56 active members.[61] Thirty-nine countries confirmed their participation,[37] whilst the following list of countries declined stating their reasons as shown below.

Bosnia and Herzegovina – The Bosnian broadcaster, Radio and Television of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BHRT), had submitted a provisional application to participate in the 2015 Contest,[63] whilst they determined how to fund the participation fees.[64] This application was subject to change and participation could subsequently be withdrawn.[65] On 17 November 2014, the broadcaster announced that they had withdrawn their application to participate at the forthcoming contest because of financial reasons.[66]

Bulgaria – Despite sending a preliminary application to participate,[67] on 10 October 2014 the Bulgarian broadcaster Bulgarian National Television (BNT) announced that it would not return to the contest because of financial reasons.[68] On 31 October 2014, BNT confirmed that they had not yet taken a final decision on participation at the 2015 contest, and that the EBU had given them extra time to resolve outstanding budget issues.[69] However, on 18 December 2014, BNT confirmed via their official Eurovision Twitter account that they would not take part in the 2015 Contest.[70]

Lebanon – Télé Liban (TL) confirmed on 15 September 2014 that Lebanon would not be making their debut in Vienna.[72] Lebanon were initially going to make their debut at the 2005 contest, but they pulled out prior to the contest.[73]

Luxembourg – On 31 July 2014, RTL Télé Lëtzebuerg confirmed that Luxembourg would not be returning to the contest in 2015.[74] However, it was reported on 26 October 2014 that the country's Minister of Culture, Maggy Nagel, expressed her desire for the country to return to the contest.[75][76][77] This was later confirmed by Nagel to be a "misunderstanding" and that the country would not be returning.[78] A collaboration with San Marino had been proposed by the broadcaster SMRTV and singer Thierry Mersch,[79][80] but later SMRTV clarified that there have only been talks between the two countries and the broadcaster is evaluating other proposals.[81] However, on 24 November 2014, it was announced that Mersch had failed to raise the necessary funds in time for the project to move forward.[82]

Monaco – Monegasque broadcaster Télé Monte Carlo (TMC) confirmed on 20 June 2014 that Monaco would not return to the contest in 2015.[83]

Slovakia – On 26 August 2014, Radio and Television Slovakia (RTVS) announced that Slovakia would not return to the contest in 2015 because of financial restrictions and an incompatibility between the contest format and the programming goals of the broadcaster.[85]

Turkey – Though the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT) announced that Turkey would not be participating in the 2014 for the second year in a row, it was later reported that a return in the 2015 Contest could be possible with Eurovision event supervisor Sietse Bakker tweeting about the possibility of the country's return.[86][87] In late August 2014, it was reported that international public relations officer for TRT, Yağmur Tüzün, stated that Turkey would not be returning to the contest in 2015 and that TRT currently has no plans to return to the competition.[88][89] The non-participation was further confirmed on 5 September 2014.[90]

During the results, loud boos could be heard whenever Russia was mentioned or the country received one of the top three high points.[95] The Russian entrant Polina Gagarina could be seen crying in the green room during the voting procedure, and this was reported by various media to have occurred as a result of the booing.[96] During a break in the countries' reporting of their votes, when the running total showed Russia leading, Eurovision 2014 winner Conchita Wurst announced to Gagarina, "You gave an amazing performance, and you deserve to be in the lead."[95] The Executive Supervisor of ESC, Jon Ola Sand, urged that Eurovision should be a "friendly battlefield....not a political battleground",[97] and presenter Alice Tumler reminded the audience that "Our motto is 'Building Bridges', and music should stand over politics tonight...". The organisers had anticipated such reactions, and had prepared and installed 'anti-booing technology' which was deployed for the first time in Eurovision broadcasting history.[98]

The jury votes from Macedonia and Montenegro in the final were not included, in accordance to the rulebook of the ESC. The rules for voting indicate that votes must be 50% jurors, 50% televoting, but Macedonia's and Montenegro's voting was 100% televoting. The change of votes did not affect Sweden's victory.[100][101][why?]

The Marcel Bezençon Awards, the OGAE voting poll and the Barbara Dex Awards are awards that were contested by the entries competing at the Eurovision Song Contest 2015, in addition to the main winner’s trophy.

Organisation Générale des Amateurs de l'Eurovision (more commonly known as OGAE) is an international organisation that was founded in 1984 in Savonlinna, Finland by Jari-Pekka Koikkalainen.[104] The organisation consists of a network of over 40 Eurovision Song Contest fan clubs across Europe and beyond, and is a non-governmental, non-political, and non-profit company.[105] In what has become an annual tradition for the OGAE fan clubs, a voting poll ran from 1 May 2015 and ended on 10 May 2015, allowing members from forty clubs to vote for their favourite songs of the 2015 contest.[106] The table below shows the top five overall results, after votes from forty-one OGAE clubs had been cast.[107]

The Barbara Dex Award, annually awarded by the fan website House of Eurovision from 1997 to 2016, and since 2017 by songfestival.be, is a humorous award given to the worst dressed artist each year in the contest. It is named after the Belgian artist, Barbara Dex, who came last in the 1993 contest, in which she wore a dress she designed herself.[108]

It was reported by the EBU that the 2015 Contest was viewed by a worldwide television audience of a record breaking 197 million viewers,[110] beating the 2014 record which was viewed by 195 million.[111]

The voting order was revealed the morning of the final, and for the only time in Eurovision history to date, the names of all the spokespersons were displayed onscreen. However, because of technical problems in some countries the final voting order was the following:[112]

1.^ Portugal, Estonia and Georgia were originally scheduled to announce their votes as the 5th, 13th and 30th countries, respectively, but instead voted 38th, 39th and 40th, respectively, after all the other countries announced their votes. The reason for this was technical difficulties in the minutes running up to the voting presentation.[112]

Eurovision Song Contest: Vienna 2015 is the official compilation album of the 2015 Contest, put together by the European Broadcasting Union and was released by Universal Music Group on 20 April 2015. The album features all 40 songs that entered in the 2015 contest, including the semi-finalists that failed to qualify into the grand final.[173]

^Knox, David (14 November 2014). "SBS 2015: TV Highlights". tvtonight.com.au. TV Tonight. Retrieved 14 November 2014. Eurovision has become one of the most popular television events in Australia. Next year is the 60th anniversary of Eurovision and with the official theme ‘Building Bridges’ already announced by host country Austria, SBS can reveal we have our Eurovision engineers Julia Zemiro and Sam Pang already working on how we can build a bridge to Vienna and join the Eurovision Song Contest in 2015.